13/2/2026 Another Upolo Tour

Oh bloody hell I was tired this morning. I was up with the alarm and went for my breakfast,and sat there for 0630 even though pick up wasn't til 0900hours. I had time to go back to the room and the temptation to lie on the bed and have a nap was really strong!

Despite being on my knees, I was in reception ready and waiting for Lua to pick me up. I’d booked all the trips with them purely because they went out of their way to accommodate me as a solo traveller. Pick up was right on time and the same people who were on the snorkel trip were on today which was great, only because we had a really nice time at the snorkeling so it boded well for another good day. Today's trip was an all day one and our first stop was about 20 minutes down the coast at the Piula Cave Pool which is a natural freshwater pool by the ocean beneath the Methodist Chapel at Piula Theological College.  There are steps leading down to the pool which is a  popular swimming hole for locals and tourists. The pool is formed by a natural spring flowing out of a cave and out to sea.

Inside the main cave opening on the north side is a short submerged tunnel leading to a smaller cave opening on the east side of the pool. There are small Fales along the front of the ocean which is part of the Marine reserve and as such you can't swim in there. It's alive with the most colourful fish and they are regenerating corals.

Alongside the car park there are some lovely clean toilets and changing rooms. While I was changing into my swimming costume, Lua was talking to a lady and asking her where she was from. Huh, she's from Wales, so I shouted through the door “me too”, she’s from North wales though, can't all be perfect! 

The pool was formed from cooling lava flows  that came from volcanic eruptions which have resulted in lava tunnels that have become conduits for water. The water is crystal clear and quite cool when first getting in, so it took me a little while to get fully in the water. However once I was in I didn't want to get out. It was deep, well deep to me because I couldn't touch the bottom, but I am a short arse. Luckily for us we were the only ones swimming in it, I think it gets really busy in the high season, there's a lot to be said for visiting these places in the wet season!

The Methodist Mission in Samoa purchased the land the pool is on for a training institution in 1868 and named it Piula Theological College.  The college runs a 4 year course which gives the students a diploma in theological studies, which prepares them for a role in the ministry. Some of the men are married and their wives take courses to prepare them for the role they'll play as a minister's wife.  As we drove through the college, the priests were studying in the Fales. The grounds were beautiful, perfectly cut grass, not a weed in sight. I didn't take any photos of the priests because it felt really intrusive. It would have been really easy as all the Fales are open.

So I have pinched one from the college's own site to show you.

Once we’d had our fill of the cave pool we got changed and loaded back into the car to carry on down the coast .

We turned onto Richardson road and traveled inland on the Le Mafa Pass, which is a wide valley lined with steep jagged mountains and luscious jungle.

The drive was incredibly scenic, despite the rain, and the winding road took us high up into the mountains with some stunning views from the top where we stopped to take photos, We carried on along the pass, got overtaken by some really dodgy drivers that caused a few squeaks from the passengers in our car. Mainly me to be honest because we all know what a fabulous passenger I am. 

Our next stop was Sopoaga Falls which is located in Lotofaga Village. The waterfalls are 105 feet high and snuggled in amongst  jungle covered cliffs. When we arrived, I thought we were going into a private garden, it was so pretty, there was a fee to enter, which was included in our tour, and paid by Lua when we arrived.

They are very trusting and there is an honesty box in case the welcome hut is unmanned. There was a lady there when we arrived and she welcomed us in. I am once again glad I am here in the wet season, for two reasons, mainly there aren't so many tourists (says the tourist) but also, the heavy rains ensure that I was able to see the waterfall in all its splendour. It was stunning.

There is a path to the waterfall viewing area and it is lined with native Samoan plants which are labeled in their Samoan and scientific names. The gardens are something else and had the obligatory chickens scratching around.

There were places for umu demonstrations. A Samoan umu is an above-ground oven of hot volcanic stones.The stones are heated in a fire before the food is placed on top, wrapped in banana leaves or coconut fronds, or put into half coconuts. More banana leaves cover the top to seal the 'oven'.Food that is usually cooked in an umu is fish, pork, chicken, lamb, taro, bananas and other vegetables. Coconut cream is traditionally used instead of oil, which adds a delicious, tropical dimension to the ingredients, and ensures the food emerges juicy and full of flavour. Most Samoan villages still prepare food in this way, particularly on Sundays or on special occasions when the tantalising, smoky smell of many umu cooking permeates the air. In more rural areas, umu is the main way that family meals are prepared, and the umu is laid three times a day to cook on.  Slathered in freshly made coconut cream, umu-cooked food has natural smokey flavours. An umu is lifted after about two hours and served immediately, while the food is hot and delicious.

We arrived at the Waterfalls to overcast weather but the sunshine was fighting to show itself and it eventually won the battle. However, within 10 minutes we had torrential rain, and then by the time I'd been to the toilet we were back to brilliant sunshine. Crazy weather patterns but one i can just about manage to live with! Its a tough job but someone needs to do it. 

From the beautiful Sopoaga Falls we drove on down the winding road to the To-Sua Ocean Trench. The To-Sua ocean trench is on the South East Coast of Upolo and is set in the most beautiful tropical gardens. I was unsure of what to expect. All the photos I had seen of the pool made me think that it would be more than a little inaccessible to me so I was delighted when I discovered that it was set in gardens and not in a jungle which is what i  envisaged. In trying to manage my expectations i had imagined the worse case scenario which it was nothing like!. Hurrah for the trench. As i say its set in stunning gardens, the grass is cut, there are fales to take shelter from the rain or the burning tropical sunshine  

The site owners are Salati & Samuga Petelo Fiame and Lua told us they are the daughter of the first president of Samoa and he is buried on the site.  They have worked hard developing the  family land to share one of Samoa’s great wonders.  "To-Sua"  literally means a Giant Swimming Hole, it is 30-metres deep and you  access it  via a very steep and deep set of concrete steps with a wooden handrail which takes you to a  sturdy wooden ladder you have to descend down onto a wooden platform.

I say sturdy ladder, it is sturdy… but it’s as slippery as hell, the steps are a very long way apart and there’s no safety ropes or nets should you slip. I had my reef shoes on which are non-slip, and there are rubber grips on the ladder rungs which weren’t that grippy, but still they’ve made some concessions to safety!  From the platform which is covered with chicken wire as it gets very wet and being wooden it’s slippery,  you can jump or dive into the crystal-clear water that is populated with tropical fish.

Thoughtfully for those weaker swimmers like my good self they have placed ropes across the pool as the current is quite strong.

I think it’s dependent on the tide, and being me I have no clue if we were in high tide or low tide! Truthfully I couldn’t care less. The pool is fed through a cave that leads out to the ocean washing in refreshingly cool water. You can swim through the cave if you are absolutely mental and in possession of not one of your faculties out to the ocean. I mean who in their right mind is going to do something like that?? 

When we arrived the sun was out and it was utterly delightful. On the walk from the car park to the trench I was unsure if I was going to get into the water, by the time we’d got to it I’d come to the decision I would indeed get myself down there somehow. How did I  reach this decision? Well I asked myself what my mother would advise me to do…  and then promptly did the exact opposite just because she would have told me I couldn’t do it.  Is it any wonder I get myself into scrapes with an attitude like that? 

So I handed my crutches, towel and phone to Lua to carry down the concrete steps for me and slowly made my way down them. It was actually really hard going and at one point I almost gave up because the pain was bloody awful as the steps were so steep, narrow and high. Finally I got to the wooden ladder and this is where I left Lua, she wouldn’t go down the steps or into the pool as she can’t swim. My legs were really shaky just from the exertion of the concrete steps so I thought it best to crack on before they started shaking even more! 

At the very top of the pool, there is a sign telling you to keep two feet and one hand or one foot and two hands on the ladder rings at all times. Right remember that Mrs Leonard FFS!  I needn’t have worried my little head about the instructions. There was no way you could get down them any other way than one step at a time. The gap between the rungs as i said were just ridiculous and it took me ages to get down them. However, Finally I got to the platform and put my towel and phone down while I undressed down to my swimmers.  I’m an out and out chicken, so jumping off the platform was not an option, and diving off head first was an absolute hell no. The only option left was to get back onto the ladder and continue down into the water that way. 

I finally got in, and whilst I couldn’t touch the bottom I wasn’t too terrified because  it was so clear and I could see anything that was potentially coming at me! The water was beautiful and wrapped around me like silk, and because it was so hot it was greatly refreshing! The other three were splashing around and enjoying it greatly. I stayed for a while but then realised I didn’t want to tire myself out swimming about because I had to get back up the bloody steps so I hauled myself out and back up onto the platform. As I did the heavens opened and torrential rain bounced back up off the pool surface. I  dried and got dressed which was a totally pointless exercise because the rain had drenched me, my lovely dry clothes and my towel.  

Getting back up the ladder was slightly more problematic than going down it because I was now blinded by the rain, very tired and my legs were like jelly. It took me about 15 minutes to haul myself up to the top but the sense of achievement was overwhelming.

I was desperate for a sit down but had to keep moving because it was causing a hold up.  Grrrrrr.  I have never been so glad to get my feet back on grass and off concrete steps and wooden ladders! Lua had made a run for it when it began raining and left my crutches in one of the Fales which was a little way away. Marco and Tall Irish helped me to it and we sat in the fale and waited for the rain to stop overlooking the ocean.

When it finally stopped raining we ventured out and walked along the cliff top and just admired the view. We were all soaked to the skin and made our way back through the gardens towards the car park. There is a. Little shop at the entrance and they sold the best latte I’ve had in a while, it could have been good because I was wet and chilled!!  Lua carried it to the car for me as the others were taking photos of the pigs that were roaming the road, and took my camera to take photos of the pigs for me.  I could see them from the car but was too knackered to get there and actually take a photo of them. 

Everyone was feeling accomplished but tired, we are all very unfit! When everyone was in the car we were off again. I could barely keep my eyes open but having a bad case of FOMO I forced myself to keep them Open. You never know what you might miss out on! 

We loaded back in the car , and followed the road back up he coast to our Next stop which was Togitogiga Waterfall, which is maintained by volunteer missionaries and they were working hard in the gardens when we pulled in. There was a gravel track up to a car park and we all got out when we got to a roped off path way. The path was also gravel and Lua said they had done a lot of work in the last few months in getting the pathway put in. We walked through coconut palms coco trees and lush plants. Fun fact the coco beans grown in Samoa supply Whittaker’s the best chocolate maker in New Zealand. That’s my opinion anyway and I will bringing plenty of it back when I come home. It knocks spots off Cadbury’s!

The national flower of Samoa is the Teuila which is also known as red ginger, it's the most vibrant red, pink flower and symbolises resilience, power and strength in Samoa. The flower is actually celebrated annually at the Teuila festival in Apia. They were growing everywhere and I looked so vibrant against the greenery. 

We got to the waterfall and walked down the steps to the river bed. There were only two other people swimming in the pool that was crystal clear, it was bloody chilly in there though! 

It was quite deep where the water poured down from the pool above,  but as we know i m a short arse which may have had some bearing on it. Although in the dry season it does dwindle  significantly. 

The waterfall is located in the O le pupa pue national park and is one of the free things to do in Upolo. As we left we were required to sign the visitors book so the government can keep an eye on the numbers and where the visitors come from. No worries on that one, i’ll sign it!

We got back in the car for the return journey back to the resort, I could hear Si voice in my ear saying ffs girl are you trying to kill yourself, go sit it down its time for a rest. I could almost feel his frowny  face looking at me. It only came out when I'd done too much. That's another thing I'm really missing, he was really good at reading when I was starting to flag and would subtly ( most of the time) steer us in a direction that forced me to slow down or stop. Without him to do that I tend to ignore my body and just charge on regardless. I need to listen to his voice in my ear more obviously, but I only had a week so what's a girl supposed to do? I miss him looking out for me, taking care of me and making sure I wasn't overdoing things.    

The island is so impressive and I'm pretty proud that I have seen a lot of it over the last few days. There are lots of it i havent seen of course but I can safely say I've ticked off the highlights and I've seen more of it than I would have if I stayed at home so that's a win. . 

The journey back to our respective resorts was pretty quiet, everyone was knackered from the tiring day and just enjoying the scenery

I definitely enjoyed myself and going on little tours like this have led me to meet some truly lovely people that wouldn't have met had I stayed in the resort. Also the likelihood is had Si been with me properly i wouldnt have done them and then wouldnt have learnt as much as i have about the country . so it's one of those shitty old double edged swords again isn't it. Life was still better with Si in it while im seeing amazing things and doing stuff is merely an existence. . 

Much Love

Mrs Leonard

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